sparrow and wren…

I seem to find my voice has been quiet lately though I have so often composed posts in my head – maybe on a walk, a bus journey, in the middle of the night as I listen again to the owls call.

Here I am though, sharing images of some prints for https://www.growbatheaston.co.uk/art-trail 7/8 October 23 – showing with the wonderful women artists group The Bees Knees

The little sparrow print, from my last offering here, is ready and waiting – and the hedge this past week has been suddenly alive with the glorious riot of their chatter.

Earlier in the year we watched wrens who were nesting in the garden – caught in the corner of the eye as they darted to and fro, then bolder and more visible if I kept still and watched – the birds here are used to our ways and us to theirs. Staying still and waiting for them to forage I draw them in my head by following their contours quickly with my eyes and look at the colour and texture of their feathers, holding the images in my mind – tiny spirited little birds. I listen out for song – it is the background sound of my days.

Then to draw in the sketchbook, looking again, more drawing without looking at the page or only for quick checking, and usually something deeper happens when I have become familiar enough with them to let go and draw more intuitively, think about them and their ways – capturing the essence of what I experience. There is no one way to draw, just trying what works for each of us, hoping the little birds stay a few seconds before a whisper of wings as they go…

I make a Lino cut and then hand print onto rice paper – quite a delicate, slow process – each one a tiny bit different, unique, as I gently use a bamboo baren and watch the image emerge.I love the repetition of each process from cutting the card, using the nori rice paste, printing my maker’s mark on the back – a rhythm and flow

This has been a year for blackbirds! So many broods. They became brave enough to wait on the doorstep and then even to hop in through the front door looking for seed. I drew them daily again and again learning the wing shape, the tail, the beak and eye, sensing the bones, and listened to their songs as they called from the top of the cherry tree…